Battlefield
by Ammy Binden
Summary: Toph and Sokka face a difficult foe, some years after Yakone's trial. *rating T for some violence **even though this is only being submitted now, it was written with only Book 1 of Legend of Korra as reference, so apologies for any continuity errors that have been resolved since
1. Chapter 1

"You know this is a bad decision!" said Toph, smacking her hand on Sokka's ash desk.

"I don't have a choice, Toph," he replied. "There's just not enough evidence to convict Quon Li. It doesn't matter how much I trust your judgement ," - he put his hand on Toph's, where it still rested his desk – "and I do, the law is really clear about this."

Toph pulled her hand away and turned her back to him, speaking over her shoulder.

"I can't believe you're just going to let him walk free.

This is a mistake. I'm making myself _clear_about that."

She stormed out of Sokka's office, slamming the door behind her.

Aang stood shocked next to the guest couch he had been seated in before she had come raging in.

Sokka stood up with a sigh, picking up the plaque on his desk that read 'Council Chairman – Sokka', and giving it a lingering glare.

"She's right, you know," he said, looking up at Aang. "'This whole situation reminds me very strongly of the Yakone affair. And even if I try to convince the council to convict him, no one will do it without the right evidence."

Aang stroked his beard, an annoying habit he'd picked up in the last few years that Sokka and Toph (and in private, even Katara, albeit more tenderly) teased him about mercilessly. "Quon Li is definitely a threat," he said. "It concerns me that he has covered his tracks so carefully. It's a miracle that Toph managed to arrest him at all."

"Toph is nothing if not good at her job." Sokka said.

He put his plaque down and walked around the desk to follow Aang out of the room. "Let's go and get some lunch before I have to get back to work."


	2. Chapter 2

Toph was mad because she had interviewed Quon Li herself, and she _knew _he was lying about his little side business. The guy was making a fortune from a drug ring somewhere in Republic City, and Toph couldn't get rid of him because of the stupid rules she was forced to follow. She loved being police chief, but she hated the limitations of having to work within the confines of the law, even though she understood how important it was to enforce the law, what with Republic City being as young as it was.

Another disappointing thing was how little time she got to spend with twelve-year-old Lin, who was just discovering her own bending prowess, and had developed a hunger for training that she had previously been lacking. Perhaps she wouldn't be as incensed about the lack of evidence to convict Quon Li if it weren't for Lin. Twelve was an age a lot of kids in the newly-formed city were either introduced to drugs or roped into the world of drug peddling. It was easy money, and they paid benders more because they had an easier time defending themselves.

And she was mad because she could remember the days when she and Sokka had dealt with criminals in their own way, back when Republic City was just little more than a reformed Fire Nation colony. She missed throwing walls at murderers, and not having to pay for damage out of her meagre earnings, and going to a tavern with Sokka and laughing about it afterward.

After her heated discussion with him about Quon Li, Toph had returned to police headquarters to find out if her detectives had any more information that she could throw at Sokka and the council. Quon Li's trial was set for the following week, and Toph planned to have everything she could find on the rat. Currently being held in a cell in the basement of headquarters, the defendant was being as uncooperative as he could possibly be, going on a hunger strike and refusing to speak at all unless his attorney was with him. Even in attorney-attended interrogations, Toph had been able to feel the vibrations of his numerous lies through the floor and steel table, and she'd had to employ all of her self-control to prevent herself from strangling him with the cables spooled on her hips.

Quon Li was good, and he covered his tracks so well that all she had was basic testimony from some rehabilitated drug peddlers, and her own gut feeling about him. Luckily one of the witnesses had given her a small but concrete piece of evidence, linking Quon Li to a warehouse near the new tunnel network where they had uncovered a cache of desert cacti, being brewed and produced as a potent street powder that users sniffed to get a brief but potent hallucinatory high. Just the smell of the stuff had incapacitated two of her officers for the rest of the day.

The evidence had been enough to allow Toph and her metalbenders to arrest him, but it seemed that his attorney was good enough that when the case went to trial, the council would have no way to convict him. That was why Toph had gone to speak to Sokka, to try and convince him to use his sway as chairman to get a guilty verdict. But he'd gone on and on about mistrials and losing his place on the council, and she'd lost her temper.

Now, sitting at her desk in her own office, Toph sighed and rested her chin in her hand, slumping her shoulders. It was a posture that had irritated her parents to no end, and one that as an adult, she only employed when she was completely at a loss for how to react to a situation.

She was startled by a knock at her door – she had been spacing out a little, and hadn't heard or even felt the person approaching.

"Come in," she said, knowing that she would be able to identify the visitor after a couple of steps.

She sat up straight and turned her ear to the door as the next two steps identified Sokka as her visitor.

"Hi Toph," he said. "I came to talk about our argument earlier."

"It wouldn't have been an argument if you would just agree with me!"

"I'm not going to go into it again, seeing as we've already had this discussion -"  
>"Fine."<p>

" –but I hate the thought of you being angry with me. You know that if I could, I would just take care of Quon Li myself, right?"

Toph crossed her arms and sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Yeah," she said with a hefty sigh. "I do know that. That's why it makes me so mad that you don't."

She heard him take a seat in one of the hard-backed chairs she kept in front of her desk.

"I like being angry at you just about as much as you do," Toph said, "but you know how strongly I feel about this particular criminal. And I know that your damned council is going to let him go next week."

"It's not _my_ council, Toph. I'm the chairman, but we are all individuals, and I refuse to use the position that I worked hard to earn to try and manipulate people into making a decision that could bode badly for them."

"Ugh, I thought you came here to apologise, not to try and prove to me you're right." She stood up, pushing back her light metal chair with an impatient hand gesture. Sokka got up as well, and put a hand on her arm.

"Just stop," he said. "I didn't come here with the intention of starting another fight. I just wanted to clear the air with you."

Toph took a deep breath, and decided to concede.

"Okay, fine. Consider the air cleared."

Sokka grinned as she pulled her arm out of his grip and socked his arm with a solid punch.


	3. Chapter 3

The day of the trial dawned grey and humid. City Hall was crowded and people were cramped in the benches of the court. The council had not been expecting so many spectators, and extra chairs had to be brought in for the latecomers. Sokka was uncomfortable with how public this trial was; it indicated that a lot of people were invested in whatever decision the council made today, and he was hoping that people would remain civil. As he and the rest of the council filed towards their adjudication table, he saw Toph and four other metalbenders standing at the main exit, along with both bending and nonbending police stationed at the other two smaller exits. Apparently she was taking no chances today.

It really was very reminiscent of the Yakone trial, except that Aang wasn't there. He and Katara had taken Appa to Whale Tail Island for a little holiday with the kids, and were only due back at the end of the week, just before the annual Republic Gala. Sokka missed him. Aang was the only reason Yakone had been unable to continue his reign of terror, and while it was unlikely that Quon Li was a bloodbending monster like Yakone had been, it would have been nice to have Aang and his Avatar magic watching over the court today.

The trial was over ridiculously quickly. In spite of his resistance to Toph's idea of trying to influence his fellow council members' decisions, Sokka made sure that the deliberation over the verdict took everything into consideration, and voiced his own opinion about Quon Li's position strongly. However, the outcome was pretty much as he predicted – not enough evidence. The air acolyte that was representing the air nomads on the council hadn't even known that cactus juice could be refined to a powder form until the prosecutor had detailed the process that was being used in the seized warehouse.

Sokka delivered the verdict and struck the gavel with disdain, and watched as Toph walked over to Quon Li and unlocked his handcuffs. He muttered something to her, and she scowled, shaking with anger, as he and his attorney turned to leave the court. She turned around and shook her head, still scowling, a gesture Sokka recognised to be aimed at him.

As Sokka turned to return to the council chambers, he heard Quon Li's unmistakeable laugh ring through the courtroom, and he worried about the future.


	4. Chapter 4

Aang stroked his beard as he inspected his formal robes in the living room mirror. He didn't care what other people said, _he _felt that he looked very distinguished and meditative whilst stroking his beard, and so he'd continue doing it. He heard giggles from Bumi and Tenzin emanating from just outside, and left the house through the front door to see Zuko trying to learn the latest secret handshake – it had become a tradition for the two boys to change their secret handshake every time the Fire Lord came for a visit – and they - Bumi in particular - enjoyed the confusion on their friend's scarred face as he struggled to arrange his fingers in the required knot. It was one of the few times when Tenzin stepped out of his usually solemn temperament, and teamed up with Bumi in any way.

"Zuko!" exclaimed Aang, and Zuko looked up, giving both boys a manly pat on the back and striding forward to engulf his old friend in a big hug.

"It's been way too long, Aang. Where's Katara?"

"She's getting ready for the gala. Where's Mai?"

"I believe she's disciplining the ship's crew for cutting it so fine in getting here. We had actually planned to be here yesterday, but the tides disagreed."

It was a happy reunion, but Aang hated that Zuko's duties as Fire Lord kept him in the fire nation for such long periods of time. Zuko and Mai usually came through for the annual Republic Gala, to celebrate the growth of the city they had built, but often the yearly visit was the only time that the old Team Avatar could all be together.

"Is Tenzin's voice breaking?" whispered Zuko. "He's growing up so fast."

Aang nodded, a little sadly. "He is, and he's so attached to Lin. Katara worries about the two of them, but I was about the same age as they are when I fell in love with her, so I don't feel like I can judge them."

Zuko chuckled at the memory of juvenile Aang, vying so hard for Katara's feelings.

"How does Sokka feel about that? His nephew and god daughter being so close?" he asked.

"He's okay with it I guess, I think he kind of feels that if there's going to be someone for Lin, he'd rather it was family."

As they had been catching up, they had moved from the dooryard to the living room of the house, with Tenzin rushing ahead of them on a quickly summoned air scooter, presumably to alert Katara to Zuko's arrival.

She came down the stairs from the first floor of the house, looking radiant in her formal wear for the gala. Aang glowed at her, remembering her face the day they'd met, and reflecting on how much he still loved her after all these years.

As Katara and Zuko greeted each other enthusiastically, Mai floated through the front door, looking regal as always, and Aang thought contentedly about how nice it would be to have all of his friends together under the same roof at the gala that night.

He was really looking forward to it.


	5. Chapter 5

Toph hated these galas. Well any formal event at City Hall, to be specific. She always signed up for duty, because as a city official, her presence there would be required, but if she was on duty she got to wear her police chief uniform and didn't have to wear shoes (or at least pretend to). At least the annual gala was her preferred event every year, because Zuko and Mai would usually come down from the Fire Nation for the event, and it was one of the rare times when they would all be together again. Between family obligations, all of their official duties, and life in general, it was very uncommon for everyone in the old gang to be together. No one besides Sokka had even heard from Suki in over ten years, which was sad, but after their breakup, she had pretty much stayed on Kyoshi Island. Katara had once (only half-jokingly) mused that perhaps she had made a life with Ty Lee, but that was a speculation that had been immediately shot down by a red-faced Sokka.

The original gang was only ever really together midsummer, at the Republic Gala, and in spite of her lingering concern and disappointment regarding the Quon Li case, Toph was glad that it was that time of year again.

"Why can't I go with you, Mom?" asked Lin, as Toph pinned down some of the last rebellious strands of hair that, if not restrained properly, would tickle her neck relentlessly the entire evening.

"You know why, sweetie. I'd have you there with me if the stupid council would get over their rules." replied Toph. "Once you hit sixteen you're more than welcome to join me."

Joining Lin on the bed where she had been sitting watching her mother get ready for the gala, Toph put a hand on her daughter's bony shoulder.

"It's not that bad," she said, "you'll get to play pai sho with Kya, Bumi and Tenzin all night, and you can stay up as late as you want!"

At the sound of Tenzin's name, Lin's countenance improved, and Toph was able to feel a subtle jolt of excitement pass through her. She smiled inwardly – she was well aware of her daughter's little crush on Tenzin, and didn't mind one bit.

"Speaking of which," Toph continued, "are you dressed? Aunt Katara and Uncle Aang will be here soon."

Lin fidgeted under her mother's hand, knowing that she couldn't hide her laziness from her mother.

"No." she said grudgingly. "It's my house, why can't I just stay in my training clothes?"

Toph stood up, chuckling, "Because I'm familiar with how dirty those clothes get! Just go put on something comfortable, Lin. You know I think you look pretty in anything."

Lin rolled her eyes at the age-old 'blind' joke that her mother made whenever she was trying to convince her to do something girly, like dressing up.

A gong sounded five times from the kitchen, courtesy of one of Sokka's 'inventions' – a modified ticking clock attached to some contraption that weighted the gong whenever the hour turned. She had absolutely no idea how it worked, but Sokka had fiddled with it for weeks and had ceremoniously installed it, demanding only a tumbler of sake as payment.

"It's five o'clock, Lin. They'll be here any minute."

Lin heaved a giant sigh that was mostly for show. "Okay, Mom." She hopped off the bed and stomped down the hall to her own bedroom. Toph heard the door close, and had a bit a quiet chuckle. The closed door was a new thing, probably related to puberty, and a habit that Toph found amusing simply because she was more aware of her daughter's activities than most parents were, in spite of her blindness. She could have sensed exactly where Lin was in her bedroom if she focused, but there was an unspoken understanding between them that when the door was shut, Lin wanted privacy, which Toph was (at least for the time being) happy to give her.

Toph went to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea and hide her small collection of knives (Bumi was very enthusiastic about knives, and Katara often had her hands full healing the ambitious teenager's wounds after imaginary spars), although with Lin and Toph both being talented earthbenders, there weren't many to begin with. Toph had worked out a system for her gas stove to avoid burns, but Sokka had also put himself to work rigging the kitchen so she had the least amount of opportunities to hurt herself. Her house was full of Sokka's inventions, as was Aang and Katara's. It was just a Sokka thing; he was always taking care of people.

Thinking about Sokka reminded Toph that they had barely spoken since Quon Li's trial; in fact, she didn't think she'd said anything to him besides the odd perfunctory greeting for over a week. She sighed, feeling guilty and selfish. She hadn't intended to give him the cold shoulder, but on some level she had realised that any conversation they had would inevitably turn to a discussion about the trial, and she didn't want to talk about it at all. It wasn't his fault that Quon Li had gotten off – if anything, she was the one who had failed by being unable to gather enough evidence and testimony to put the scumbag away, and more than anything, she _hated_ not talking to Sokka. They had been constant companions for decades, and in the years they had both been city officials, he had helped her through a lot of professional and personal hard times, not the least being the death of Lin's father just four months into her pregnancy. She would have to make a point of apologising to him tonight at the gala.

The kettle started its high pitched whistle just as the bell Sokka had installed at the front door gave an energetic rattle, which led Toph to bemusedly assume that Tenzin was the one doing the ringing.

Toph padded across the earthen floor of her single story apartment, and sensed the large group of her loved ones behind the door before she opened it, feeling very lucky to still have these special people in her life.

It had taken some time, but eventually Toph, Katara, Aang, Zuko and Mai had been able to leave for the gala. Zuko had explained (apparently for the fifth time, after explaining to Aang and Katara's kids, and Bumi twice) that his daughter was acting as his regent while he was in Republic City, which was why she couldn't join them on the visit. Lin was always excited about seeing the Fire Princess, and they had a lot of fun training and sparring with one another, so she had been disappointed when she found out that there would be no visit this year.

Bumi had been warned about the knives, Kya had been given some emergency spirit water, and Tenzin had been reminded to only airbend outside, where Toph's carefully laid out but messy house would not be rearranged.

As they left Toph's apartment (on foot, five middle-aged adults was a lot of weight for the aging Appa, and City Hall was only a few blocks away), Zuko mused that it was taking less and less time to get the kids settled each year.

"I can't believe they're almost all teenagers now," said Katara, looking a little sad. "You know Bumi's already talking about joining the military?"

Aang put his arm around his wife, grinning. "He's got every bit of determination you do, so I'm not even going to argue with him."

Katara gave a slight sniff, but smiled, hugging Aang back.

Toph, who had been walking on Aang's other side, punched him hard on the arm not holding Katara.

"Enough with the soppy stuff, tonight we're having fun!" she said.

"But you're on duty," said Mai. "As usual."

Toph shrugged. "My team know that I only do it so that I don't have to get all dressed up for society. They'll have my back."


	6. Chapter 6

Sokka fiddled with his ivory choker agitatedly. He hated how early he had to be at these galas, being the chairman. Technically, Toph was supposed to be there before even he was, but she always managed to delegate the pre-gala tasks to some underling that she trusted implicitly. Today it was a clean-shaven man in his late twenties named Wan. He wore his metalbending uniform well, and was clearly very well built underneath it. He stood two or three inches taller than Sokka, so the chairman of the city council found himself looking up at the young policeman as the security details were recited to him.

"We have two bending officers at all exits," said Wan, "and then we'll have the chief in here with the council, as well as me, the deputy chief, and four nonbending officers."

Sokka nodded and elicited a stately grunt. "Do we expect any trouble, Wan?"

Wan didn't quite shake his head, but made a dismissive gesture with his face.

"I doubt it Mr. Chairman. Things have been pretty quiet in general since Quon Li's trail."

"Alright then," said Sokka, "thanks for the taking care of that." He swept the decorated hall up in a glance.

"Is the bar open yet?"

Sokka was nursing an early whiskey by the time his friends arrived, well ahead of the start of the gala. He knew that all of them would have to go out later and pose for the reporters, but it was a kind of tradition that Zuko and Aang would come by earlier so that they could all catch up properly before the proceedings began.

Toph hung back during the greetings between Sokka and Zuko, letting them revel in the reunion.

"You look bored as hell," Zuko said to Sokka, grinning widely.

Sokka dropped his shoulders and blew out a massive huff of breath in an exaggerated gesture of exhaustion.

"I've been here for hours! And for no particular reason either."

"You should really start delegating," said Toph, folding her arms and smirking. "I've never looked back!"

"You've never looked at anything, Toph," said Sokka. There was a moment of brief silence, and then all of them were laughing.

Sokka bought them all a drink, except for Toph, who as a rule only hit the hard stuff after the dancing started, and they spent half an hour chatting, catching up, and just appreciating being together again.

"How's everything looking, Wan?" asked Toph, standing at her best viewing area, which was a stone slab raised above the carpeting of the ballroom near the west exit. She had requested its inclusion in the construction of the building, warning that if they didn't include it, she would simply raise it herself and risk ruining the grand appearance of the place. Her reasoning had been that any metalbender would need seismic sense above all the noise of the galas and banquets they were planning on having, sighted or not.

"Looking good, chief," Wan replied. "It's pretty quiet outside, and there's nothing but the usual signs of merriment in here."

"Good. In that case, I'm going to go and get some dinner. Come and call me if you need me for anything."

Wan fired off an unseen salute, and replied in the affirmative.

Toph plopped down into the seat Sokka had saved for her, plate laden with buffet items, ten minutes later.

"Food any good?" she asked.

"Oh yes," he said.

It was a ritual with them; him saving her a seat, banter about the food, and Toph's first beer for the evening, drawn by Sokka and perspiring at her place by the time she sat down.

The way he ate, one would most certainly not have believed that he was the city's highest ranking official.

"You eat like a pig chicken, Sokka."  
>"How would you know?"<br>"I can hear you slurping away. All these years on the council and you still have no manners."

"Speak for yourself. You call yourself a Beifong?"

They chuckled, and finished eating in companionable silence. After the meal, Toph got them each another beer, while Sokka watched Aang and Katara flirt in their strange, delicate way, both of them blushing even though they had been married for decades. Zuko and Mai were already dancing; considering that dancing had been mostly discouraged in the Fire Nation in their youth, they danced well. Both of them had been training in martial arts from a young age and moved gracefully and lithely over the dance floor.

Toph nervously ran a finger down the outside of her icy beer glass.

"Sokka," she said quietly.

He turned away from the party at the unusually solemn quality of her voice.

"I'm sorry about the whole Quon Li thing," she said.

"It's okay, Toph –"  
>"Let me finish. Sorry." She sighed. "I guess I was so frustrated at the thought of him walking free because of my own ineptitude that I took it out on you. And that's not fair, to either of us. I've hated that we've barely spoken the last couple of weeks, I've hated that we didn't go out for drinks last weekend like we usually do. And I've especially hated that it was all my fault. I'm really sorry."<p>

She took a large gulp of beer to try and kill the giant lump that had risen in her throat while she was talking.

"I appreciate you coming to headquarters after our argument to try and smooth things over, but I still haven't been a very good friend to you, especially since the end of the trail. And I should know by now that you would never let someone like Quon Li get off easy if you could help it."

"Toph, it's really okay."

"No, it's not, Sokka. You're my closest friend – I shouldn't ever push you away."

He moved his chair closer to hers, took her right hand off her beer glass and held it in his own.

"I knew things would be okay," he said, "because I realised that you needed to deal with your anger about Quon Li in your own way. I missed you – a lot – but I knew you'd eventually forgive me."

Toph smiled. "Me forgive you," she said with a slightly wet huff. "Like that would ever happen. You were only doing your job!"

"Well, _do_ you forgive me?" he asked. She freed her hand and punched him in the arm in response.

"You wanna go dance?" she asked.

"Sure! Let's show these other noobs how it's done." said Sokka.

Toph didn't so much dance as use vague earthbending stances to scope out where everyone was, and when she was with someone she trusted implicitly, such as Sokka, she would actually sometimes rest her feet on top of his and let him guide her along for the slower numbers. The first time they'd danced at a gala years ago, Katara had been thoroughly delighted, exclaiming that she looked graceful and ladylike, and had talked Aang into giving it a try. Aang, having been instructed in earthbending by Toph herself years previously, knew her well enough to be a good dance partner, but it was always easier and more natural when she was with Sokka, who had once saved her life by clinging to her fingers over a burning landscape, even when the odds were totally against them.

As she stood up and took his hand, she could pick out Aang's light footsteps out of the crowd; obviously Aang and Katara had joined in the dancing while Toph had been apologising to Sokka. While they were walking towards the dance floor, Toph reflected on how much she had always liked holding Sokka's hand. Being blind, she was used to touching certain people as a point of reference, for guidance on surfaces where her feet were impaired, and it was something she had gotten used to and come to terms with early in life, but it was something of a necessity. Human touch didn't mean to her what it did to seeing people - except with Sokka. She wished she could be touching Sokka all the time.  
>It wasn't that his skin felt better than other people's skin, or that there was anything physically different about touching him, it was that it was touching <em>him<em>. She always felt special and loved, and her longing to be closer to him was amplified by it.

When they were a great deal younger she'd had a crush on him - a typical prepubescent, red-faced, heart-thumpingly enormous crush - but she had gotten over it fairly easily. She had always liked Suki, and she thought that they'd made a cute couple, and she had moved on. She hadn't been hurt that Sokka hadn't chosen her; he and Suki had fit together well - it had come naturally. She hadn't rejoiced when they broke up - she had been heartbroken at Sokka's heartbreak, even though splitting up was something that both he and Suki had needed to do - and by that point she had been pretty serious with Lin's father, so her friendship with Sokka had become something pure and untouched.

After Lin's father had been gone a long time, and Sokka and Toph had started their terms in office, they had spent so much of their time together that it didn't really ever feel as though anything was missing from her life, but Toph had to admit that whenever Sokka touched her - whether it was a quick hug, a pat on the back, a guiding hand - she would feel this gap in things; as though there was more than friendship, and both of them were too busy, too enamoured, and too fond of each other to ever acknowledge or explore. She would recognise that gap, fold away that semi-knowledge of what she and Sokka could be, and just enjoy being touched by him. That was how it had been for years. 


	7. Chapter 7

Sokka's hand on Toph's waist let her know that they had reached the dance floor. The band was playing some catchy, upbeat semi-ballad, and it was easy to grin and enjoy the music. Sokka grinned just as easily. Dancing was one of his favourite things to do with Toph, and incidentally something they hardly ever had occasion to do. As with everything else she did, Toph excelled at dancing beyond anyone's expectations, using her seismic sense and powerful hearing to enjoy the music without apprehension, and using her martial arts prowess and a natural, unselfconscious rhythm to move just as beautifully and expressively as any sighted dancer. The thing Sokka enjoyed most about dancing with her was the unbridled joy she seemed to feel while doing it, and there was nothing he wanted more than to see Toph happy. He too felt a gnawing sense that there could be more to their relationship than there was, and that it would be caring and fun, and as natural as breathing, but he pushed it back, afraid of changing any dynamics in their perfect friendship.

As usual, people turned to watch when they danced. It was something people expected of Sokka, but not of the stoic Chief Beifong, especially not when she was blind and barefoot and in the heavy armour of her police uniform. Only Aang, Katara, Zuko and Mai continued to dance, and it was somehow fitting that it was just them, just the gang, together again. Somewhere a camera flashed, and then another two flashes followed it. Sokka made a mental note to check the papers the following week and see if he could get a good clipping of the photo, if they published it.

He had a secret clipping of he and Toph that he kept in his desk, taken by one of the journalists in the courtroom just after everyone came to following Yakone's massive bloodbending stunt. The moment Sokka had come to, his first concern had been Toph; the first thing he had been able to remember was Yakone forcing him to watch as Toph's body was manipulated into uncuffing the criminal before being tossed to the ground. The journalist had snapped a photo of Sokka holding an unconscious Toph in his arms, while he tried to wake her. It had enforced support for Aang's actions, even when many of the city's outspoken critics had spoken against his unprecedented removal of Yakone's bending abilities.

The song was winding down to some sort of bridge; Toph had lost track of how long they'd been dancing, but she was just thinking that she should check in with Wan when she sensed a triple earthbending vibration, followed by a double, and then nothing. That was her benders' signal if anything was out of the ordinary, that she needed checking out. After the first Republic gala, when she had underestimated just how loud party people could be, she had instated the protocol so that she would know immediately if something important was going down.

"Sokka, Sergeant Lee just signalled me at the east entrance," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders, as he dropped his liberated right hand to her waist.

"Better go check it out ju-" his answer was cut off by a large bang - to Toph it sounded like King Kuei's fireworks, but she assumed that it was actually some sort of explosive.

"Smoke bombs!" said Sokka. He dropped his hands from her waist, and she could tell by his movement that he was reaching for his sword. She changed her stance to enhance her seismic sense, but in all the confusion, with dozens of pairs of stomping in panic, all she could really see was Wan running out through the west exit. He shouldn't have been anywhere near the west exit, which disturbed Toph, but nonetheless, she was hoping he was running for reinforcements. She could tell that her nonbenders were all unmoving – only unconscious, she hoped -but the strategic locations where she had placed her metalbenders were chaotic - the only exit she could see with her earthbending was the west exit through which Wan had disappeared, and soon that one was blurry as well.

"What the..." she said out loud. Sokka coughed; it sounded muffled, and she realised he must be covering his mouth with a free arm, and did the same. The last thing she needed was to pass out from smoke inhalation.

"Sokka..." she stammered, before being overcome with a quiet but powerful coughing fit. Too late! She hoped Sokka had heard her - people seemed to screaming and scrambling towards the exits, where Toph lost sight of them. She could feel that Aang, Katara, Zuko and Mai had remained on the dance floor with her and Sokka.

"What is it Toph? I can't see a damn thing." Great, he had heard her over all the tumult.

"Me *cough* neither! The exits are blurry, can you see what's going on?"

She heard Sokka call out, "Aang, clear the air in here, we can't see a thing!" and subsequently felt a gust of air so strong it would've blown her off her feet had she not been holding an earthbending stance.

"Toph," said Sokka, "they have some sort of device attached to some of the walls. It looks... it looks like they're vibrating?"

Toph's eyes widened in anger at the cheap tactic, and - she had to admit it - fear. "My officers?"  
>"It looks like they're all incapacitated."<p>

"Incapacitated? Dead or unconscious?!"

Another explosion went off, and Toph felt involuntary tears slide down her cheeks as whatever was in the bombs hit her sinuses.

"I don't know! I don't even know who's throwing those bombs!"

"Who cares?" came Zuko's voice from behind her. She heard a whistle not far from her left ear and realised that Mai had thrown a knife.

"Mai!" she shouted, "what do you see?!"  
>"Not much." said Mai. "I'm just throwing knives and hoping to shed some blood!"<p>

Toph noticed another projectile fly past her, this time from the opposite direction, and on her right side. She heard a distinctly female grunt, and a massive splash as Katara's suspended cache of bending water hit the ground and soaked her feet, followed by a worried "Katara!" from Aang. "It looks like a tranquilizer da-", Aang said, breaking off with a grunt, and then Toph heard and felt his body crumbles to the ground.

She heard a distant voice from somewhere behind them shout "Avatar Aang!" and heard the hiss of a firebender arming themselves with a pair of flames.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"The band," replied Zuko, "it appears the singer is a firebender, and the bass player is an earthbender. They've jumped off the bandstand to help us."

Toph heard footsteps, seven men by the sounds of it (unless one of them had a peg leg), coming towards them from the back of the ballroom, and taking a praying mantis stance she disposed of four of the assailants with her infamous ease, discarding Republic City's emergency procedures and tearing up the expensive carpeting to send heavy slabs of earth up at them. It was impressive, considering that her seismic sense was rendered useless. She could hear Zuko and the singer from the band throwing flames, but they weren't quick enough though.

She heard Zuko and Mai crumple behind her, and a mutter from Sokka - solely for her benefit - "More tranquilizers."

She took out two of the remaining attackers, using pieces of the liberated earth from her previous attacks, and felt rocks fly over her head, presumably from the band's bassist - if Sokka's commentary were to be believed - before the last enemy was dispatched.

She couldn't feel vibrations of anyone besides Sokka and the four musicians - two of them in fighting stance, two of them cowering on the bandstand - in the ballroom, although she could sense the breathing of her unconscious friends, incapacitated officers, and the surviving assailants. All of the gala's other guests had departed in the stampede that had impaired Toph's sight after the smoke bombs were deployed. The fight, it seemed, was over as quickly as it had begun.

"Is that it?" she asked, turning to Sokka, who at that moment shouted, "Toph, look out!"

Before she could begin to even register what he had said, she felt an enormous searing pain tear through the right side of her back, beside her ribs.


	8. Chapter 8

Sokka saw the last guy working his way towards Toph at the very last moment - too late in the end - as he used some sort of harness to attack from the ceiling and accost her with a knife. The moment of Toph's stabbing seemed to slow down in Sokka's mind, and he heard himself warning her in slow motion just as he saw the agent pull out the knife whilst slamming into her at a breakneck speed. He had time in the stretched moment to glance towards the last two fighters standing, the bending musicians, but his glance caught them just as they were both caught by chi blockers that had dived in on harnesses like the one Toph's assassin was using; the firebending woman fought back, but the chi blocker pulled a knife on her and brought her down with a swipe of the knife up her waist. Sokka's feet had been closing the small distance between himself and Toph as he witnessed the demise of the two remaining benders, and by the time he had turned his head to face her again, his instincts had brought his arms around in a deadly swing until his sword was sitting at the throat of the man who had his hand wrapped around the knife sticking out of Toph's back.

"Let go of the knife, or I slit your throat right here," he growled.

The man chuckled. "What about my chi blockers, Chairman?" he said teasingly.

Without looking behind him, Sokka pulled his boomerang out of its pouch with the hand not holding the sword steady at the man's throat, and threw it behind him with practiced aim. He didn't really know if it would reach the advancing chi blockers. All he could think about was getting this man away from Toph, before killing him for hurting her.

"Forget about them," said Sokka. "You get away from Chief Beifong _now_, or you get to know first-hand why I am the best swordsman in the world."

The assassin let go of the handle of the knife handle that was protruding horribly from Toph's inert lower back. "Gong Li sends his regards," hissed the assassin, and grasped the edge of Sokka's sword, slicing open the palms of his hands, and slit his own throat before Sokka could do much more than gasp. He felt something sharp glance off the back of his neck and heard two thumps behind him. He turned in response, and his boomerang came whistling into his hand as he instinctually raised it for the catch.

The two chi blockers had fallen within ten inches of him.

Sokka got down on his knees and cradled Toph in his arms with trembling hands, struggling to get a grip under her back where her blood had pooled. His head swam, and he realised that the graze on his neck must have been a tranquilizer dart that mostly missed.

"Please, Toph…" he said, unaware that tears had begun streaming down his cheeks. His voice was very loud in the eerily silent ballroom. "Please be okay."

With the hand not supporting her back, he checked her neck for a pulse, unintentionally smearing blood on her paler-than-usual skin. It was faint, but there. He wanted to try and wake up Katara, get her to heal Toph, but all of a sudden Sokka's limbs felt weighed down with lead, and he was struggling to keep from losing his balance. Darkness closed in around the corners of his vision, and the last thing he said before losing consciousness completely was her name.


	9. Chapter 9

Toph woke up slowly. She came out of oblivion in stages.

The first stage was the sound of distant voices, very faint.

The second stage was realising that they were the voices of people she loved, and that hearing and recognising them gave her comfort.

The third stage was noticing the feeling of starched sheets stretched over a soft mattress beneath her, of dappled sunlight on her skin, and that someone had covered her feet by putting socks on them. Someone was holding her left hand.

The fourth stage was pain.

More intense than any pain Toph had ever experienced, there was a feeling of something being torn in her back; it reached into her newly conscious body in a wave, starting at her hips and moving its way up.

When it reached her neck, she gasped and her eyes flew open involuntarily.

"Toph, you're awake!" exclaimed a voice near her left shoulder. It was Sokka's voice, and hearing it filled her with warmth and relief that overshadowed the pain, even if it was only a brief reprieve.

She tried to say his name but could produce only a slight croak.

The hand holding hers gave a gentle squeeze. Four sets of footsteps approached her bed and she heard water being poured into a cup.

"You must be so thirsty," said Katara. Toph nodded her head with the least amount of movement possible – even the tiniest of movements were painful - and Katara gently gave her a small sip of water. The cold water on her raspy throat was like heaven, but she had a feeling that drinking too fast would be a pretty bad idea.

"Katara, is everyone okay?" Toph asked.

Katara put a hand on her shoulder. "Everyone is fine – they took pretty much everyone in the room out with tranquilizer darts. Only you and Hotaru, the singer from the band, were really hurt beyond a few cuts and bruises. Luckily your officer, Wan, managed to escape during the initial confusion and get reinforcements. If he hadn't, the healers might not have gotten to you on time."

At this last, Sokka's grip on her hand tightened.

"Hotaru… was she the firebender or the earthbender? I remember they were both there."

"Firebender." said a new voice from across the room to Toph's left. "Koichi's the earthbender. He's my brother." She sounded like a young woman in her twenties. Her speaking voice brought back the memory of the song that had been playing when they were attacked, while she and Sokka were dancing.

"How did Wan get out?" Toph asked.

"He slipped out through the west exit. Near your earth rise." Katara said.

"That lily liver should have stuck around to defend people!" she said. "I'll kick his head in."

"Toph," said Sokka quietly, "if he hadn't escaped when he did, there's a very strong chance you'd be dead now."

"He saved your life."

Toph sighed. "Well then I guess I'll settle for a solid punch."

"Are you in much pain?" asked Mai. So she and Zuko were here too; probably the other footsteps Toph had heard had been those of Aang.

"Try a whole lot of it," replied Toph. "What happened to me? I didn't see anyone coming, so whoever got me must have come out of the air."

"You, me, Hotaru and Koichi were the last ones standing," said Sokka, "and then these two chi blockers and a guy with a knife came down out of nowhere - on harnesses or something. They took us all by surprise.

I think... I think they knew that at the very least you would get past the original barrage, and the guys on harnesses were the real enemies. The guy with the knife..." here Sokka paused. "Well, he got to you before I could stop him." His voice was not quite steady.

"Don't beat yourself up, Sokka." Katara said quickly. "You did everything you could."


	10. Chapter 10

Sokka _was_ beating himself up. How could he not? He was supposedly the greatest swordsman in the world, but he hadn't been able to protect his sister, he hadn't been able to protect his friends, and he couldn't protect Toph. He hadn't even been able to get any information out of the guy that hurt Toph, or take his revenge - the assassin had taken his own life so quickly that there hadn't been time to do anything. He'd even been too late to take out the chi blockers. If it hadn't been for Wan's timely return, Toph may not have even survived - but he couldn't think about that. She was alive, and awake.

He had felt the same way after Yakone's trial. Helpless, a failure. The night after the entire court had been bloodbent, Katara and Aang had watched Lin, and Sokka and Toph had stayed up all night together, drinking and trying to avoid talking about the feelings of failure and shame that they shared. There had been a moment, when they had both been pretty well in their cups and had been sitting shoulder to shoulder on the floor, that Sokka had put his arm around Toph, drinking in the scent of her hair and revelling in the fact that she was alive. When she turned her face towards his, their faces had been so close that their noses touched. He had been working up the courage to kiss her, when she got up suddenly, stumbling, and disappeared into her bedroom. Sokka had not followed her, but slept on the couch that night, having fitful drunken dreams about being bloodbent and kissing Toph.

For months, he had thought about the hazy memory of that night, and wondered whether he should ask her out, make a move, or say something about it. It seemed strange, that in his middle age he should feel so much like a confused teenager again, but Toph had never mentioned it, and their interactions had continued as normal. Their friendship had carried on in its simple, easy way, which Sokka would never have traded for anything.

Now, at her hospital bed, he was feeling ashamed of his failure as a swordsman when his friends had needed him, ashamed of his failure as a councilman in allowing Quon Li to walk free, and ashamed that he had never talked to Toph about that night. Thinking of how he may have lost her...

"Earth to Sokka!" said Toph. Sokka looked up and saw that she was smiling. He hadn't even realised that he was hanging his head.

"I'm sorry, Toph." he said. "I should never have let that guy get anywhere near you."

While Sokka had been lost in his thoughts, Zuko had walked around to his side of Toph's bed. Now he put a hand on Sokka's shoulder and said "They took us all by surprise, Sokka. Katara and Aang were barely in the fight before they were hit with those darts. It was a cleverly thought out attack."

"And they were after me specifically," said Toph. "The way they knew to vibrate the walls, so that my feet would be confused... that was a very blatant move."

Sokka suddenly remembered that Toph didn't know that the attackers were from Quon Li. He actually hadn't told any of the others either - he wasn't sure how to deal with the information himself. At first, he had wanted to go after the villainous dirtbag himself, but sanity had prevailed when he thought of how easily the man's thugs had taken out the Avatar, the only Southern waterbender, and the Fire Lord.

He looked at Toph's face, paler than usual, ignoring the flurry of reassuring words coming from the rest of his friends, as well as Hotaru and Koichi at the other end of the room. If he told her about Quon Li's involvement, she would be trying to get out of that bed in a second, and even under Katara's considerable care she was in no condition to do much more than walk to the bathroom, let alone go on a crusade against Quon Li.

"Guys, relax," he said eventually. "We should be worrying about Toph, not my honour."

Zuko chuckled, and Katara flashed him a sweet smile.

"It's time for a healing session anyway, Toph." she said. "Everybody out!"


	11. Chapter 11

Toph was scowling, vowing to punch Katara really hard when she felt better. The healing sessions always felt great while they were happening, but within about two hours, Toph would be in horrible pain. After the healing session following her awakening (during which Katara had told Toph she'd been out for four days. Four days?!), Sokka had returned with Lin, who had squealed with happy tears and, forgetting her pre-adolescent resolution to never hug Mom in public, had hugged Toph fiercely.

Toph had smiled through clenched teeth, blinking through tears of her own, and was deeply upset that her pain had been more present than her daughter's relief and happiness. Nonetheless, she hugged Lin back just as fiercely. She had never wished she could see more than at that moment, but she would settle for the clean scent of her daughter's hair and the solid, still-childlike weight of her.

Now, brooding on her current pain - not as bad as that day, but still pretty damn awful - Toph heard footsteps coming through the doorway, and immediately recognised them as Sokka's. He had come to visit at least once every day in the five since she had come to, usually bringing Lin with him, but today he was alone.

"Hey Sokka," she said.

"Hi Toph," he replied, and put a hand on her shoulder as he took his accustomed seat to the left of her bed. "How was torture today?"

Toph brought a fist and a palm together in a threatening gesture - something she couldn't have done without a spasm of pain just two days before - with a sly grin. "As soon as I'm out of this hospital, Katara and I are having a duel!"

He had a good laugh at that. "Seriously though," he said. "How's the pain?"

"Bad, especially right now. But I can move around a lot more, and in a few hours the leftovers from my session with Katara will have died down a bit. She really is very good."

"I'm glad to hear it."

She heard him rummaging for something in that ridiculous 'manbag' he always carried.

"What are you hunting for?" she asked.

"Just a minute!" The sound of his excavation continued.

"How much junk do you have in there, Sokka?"

"It's not junk!" He said, sounding affronted. "It's just stuff I need with me."

The rummaging abruptly stopped. "Found it!"

"Found what? For a second there I thought you came to visit me just to sit and hunt for your house keys."

Sokka sighed, and Toph sensed that he had grown serious after their light banter.

"I wanted to give you something, to let you know how much you mean to me, so -" Toph felt blood rising to her cheeks as he said it, and didn't want to hear the rest.

"Sokka, you don't have to-"

"No, Toph, I want to. And let me say this, okay?"

She nodded.

"I watched a man stab you in the back. It was pretty much the worst thing I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. Now, I know you can handle yourself - you certainly handle yourself better than me - but for a long time I've just wanted to have your back like you always have mine, and that night... that night..." Here his voice wavered, and he cleared his throat, trying to steady it. "That night I didn't have your back, not because I wasn't trying, but because I wasn't good enough. And I want you to know how much I wanted to."

Toph could hear in his voice that he was actually weeping, and even though she very badly wanted to speak, she kept quiet. He clearly needed to say this.

"You mean everything to me," he said. "It's not like it's new to me, it's just that until I saw someone target you like that, saw you go down, I didn't realise that I don't say it nearly enough."

He took her hand and pressed something into it.

"I carved it for you. It doesn't have to mean what it would normally mean, but I didn't know how else to tell you that I love you."

Toph was stunned. Sokka had just told her he loved her. The way he said it, she didn't know whether he meant it the way she had always, albeit only in the deepest corners of her heart, hoped he might, but she would take it.

She took the item he had given her and examined it with her fingers. It was two narrow lengths of soft fabric, weighed down and joined by a round piece of stone. Running her fingers over the carving, she felt a rectangular shape in the center, surrounded by curved lines.

"Sokka, is this... is this a betrothal necklace?" she asked. Her cheeks were very warm now, the pain in her back completely forgotten.

"Technically it is, but it's more just me telling you that I'll always have your back. I wanted you to have something that would symbolise that."

"I don't know what to say. This is just..." she was truly lost for words. She reached for him and pulled him into an embrace, gripping the necklace in one hand. "I love you too," she said into his ear. "I always have." She wasn't surprised to feel warm tears course down her cheeks.

After a moment, Toph pulled out of their embrace and held out her new necklace.

"Would you put it on for me?" she asked.

"With pleasure," said Sokka. He took it from her and she felt the caress of the fabric on her neck a second later. It took a while for him to fasten the necklace – his hands were trembling – but when he was done he let his hands linger on either side of her neck and pressed his forehead against hers. Toph covered his hands with hers.

They sat that way for a long time – it could have been five seconds, it could have been five hours, neither of them knew or cared.


End file.
